| More photos below. |
Ever have big plans for your life, but then you got high? Lethargic and under-achieving potheads may have created a bum rap for all of us, but that doesn’t mean success and lighting it up are mutually exclusive.
Breaking news: a lot of famous celebrities and creative-types smoke weed. If this surprises you, then congratulations on getting an Internet connection under that rock you call home. But what about the truly rich and powerful who got faded?
| High-CBD oil. |
Florida now officially recognizes marijuana as a substance with medical benefits… well, at least in some very narrow cases. As expected, Gov. Rick Scott signed the “Charlotte’s Web” bill into law today. The bill allows certain strains of non-euphoric marijuana tincture to be used to treat a very small list of maladies, including childhood epilepsy.
“As a father and grandfather, you never want to see kids suffer,” the governor said in a statement. “The approval of Charlotte’s Web will ensure that children in Florida who suffer from seizures and other debilitating illnesses will have the medication needed to improve their quality of life.”
Of course, cynics might point out that Scott’s signing of the bill may have just as much to do with his opposition to a wider medical marijuana policy in Florida as it does children.
| Pat Arnow/Flickr. |
The New York State Legislature has just more than three days to approve a bill that would legalize medical marijuana across the state, before the legislative session ends on Thursday, June 19. If it doesn’t pass–and it hasn’t passed the last sixteen times it has been introduced–it will be back to the drawing board.
Activists who have pushed to pass the bill, known as the Compassionate Care Act, remain stubbornly confident this will be the year–it is, after all, the furthest the bill has made it through the legislature since it was initially introduced in 1997. But Governor Andrew Cuomo is not bending over backwards to help move the legislation along. To the contrary, on Monday, Cuomo enumerated a laundry list of changes he wants to see implemented before he will support the bill to the Daily News.
The Village Voice has more of the local angle.
Arizona voters won’t be deciding on whether to legalize limited amounts of marijuana for adults 21 and up this year.
It’s not the most surprising result, but the group that had been gathering petition signatures, Safer Arizona, released a statement on its Facebook page marking the end of the group’s effort. The Phoenix New Times has the details.
| Denver on 4/20. |
One of the biggest arguments for the passage of Colorado’s Amendment 64 was the potential tax revenue limited recreational marijuana sales would generate — and last week, the Denver City Council Government and Finance Committee met to discuss how to spend the city’s share of money.
City Budget Manager Brendan Hanlon and Executive Director of Marijuana Policy Ashley Kilroy outlined a plan proposed by Mayor Michael Hancock that would divvy up the estimated $3.5 million Denver is due to receive this year from retail marijuana taxes.
We’re five months away from the November elections, but already the medical marijuana battle in Florida is ramping up.
Polls show that support for Florida’s Amendment 2 – which would legalize cannabis for certain qualifying medical conditions -has anywhere between 60 and 88 percent support. But backers say that isn’t enough to coast to victory. According to Florida law, constitutional amendments proposed in ballot measures have to pass with 60 percent of the vote.
Every toker has their favorite stash spot when needed, whether it is the fifth pocket of a pair of jeans, the beltline of your boxers or the hidden pocket in the tongue of your shoes.
But however crafty those places may be, 42-year-old Florida resident Christopher Mitchell has them beat. Or, did have them beat until last week when cops found nearly an ounce of herb under Mitchell’s belly fat after a traffic stop.
Only 2,342 people have signed up for medical cannabis in New Jersey, far fewer than were initially expected. But the problem likely isn’t due to a lack of interest it’s due to a lack of access.
As we’ve reported in the last few months, the program has been criticized for how slowly it came online and with how tight rules and regulations have prevented medical marijuana dispensaries from opening up and increasing access to patients.
| Pat Arnow/Flickr. |
Medical marijuana patients should not be allowed to smoke cannabis, nor should they be allowed to share it with other patients. That’s the decree from New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who says a medical marijuana proposal currently locked in state Senate committees needs major overhauls before he would ever consider signing it.
Also, if you fake an ailment for a recommendation, it should be a felony.
Last Friday afternoon, a Palm Beach County sheriff stopped 18-year-old Evan Steward as he was cruising his silver Hyundai Sonata, without a driver’s-side headlight, through Boca Raton. A cop pulled Steward over and told him he had been stopped because of the headlight. Steward then consented to a search, saying he had “nothing in the car” and “nothing to hide.”
The deputy, however, found a black backpack in the trunk that contained two bags of weed (116.2 grams in all), 19 Xanax bars, a grinder, and a scale. Still, Steward had a pretty great explanation for all the drugs in his domain.